May 19, 2000

Box Score

PROVO, Utah - The UNLV track and field team slipped from first to third place in the team standings after the third day of the Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, but should be able to bounce back when the finals are contested in the sprint events tomorrow.

UNLV's sprint combo of Ayanna Hutchinson and Michele Davis, as they have done all season, hold the top spots after the preliminaries of the sprint events. Hutchinson posted the top time in the 100 meters with an 11.45, more than 0.25 seconds faster than the rest of the field.

Davis clocked the top prelim marks in the 200 and 400 meters with times of 23.58 and 54.87 respectively. On her heels in the 200 in Hutchinson, whose time of 23.63 was the second fastest of the day.

That makes the Rebels the favorite to win all three sprint events and make up the 26 points they are behind Wyoming in the team standings. BYU leads the meet with 94 points, followed by Wyoming's 66 and UNLV's 39.

Scoring points today for UNLV was junior distance specialist Jenni Nelson, who captured second place in the 10,000 meters in 36:29.26. Nelson has already provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in that event and will await an invitation.

Junior pole vaulter Charlotte McGee matched the career best she cleared last week with a mark of 11-4.25. She finished fifth overall and earned all-conference honors for the fourth time in her career.

Chantel Yates and Heather Steadham, who had the Rebels in first place yesterday after second- and fifth-place finishes respectively in the heptathlon, added to the UNLV total by scoring in the long jump. Yates finished fourth with a leap of 18-6, and Steadham took seventh with a jump of 18-1.5.

Senior All-American Jessica Marable, who has been battling a back injury throughout the latter half of the outdoor season, still managed to finish fifth in the shot put and should be healthy before the upcoming NCAA Championships on May 31-June 3. She recorded a toss of 46-4.25.

One other Rebel could figure into the scoring column after Friday. Senior Kathryn Goetz qualified for the finals in the 800 meters, posting the eighth best time in the event in 2:15.92.

The meet will conclude on Saturday with finals being contested in all remaining events.